The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2011-06-22 21:50
Where did you find that date, Tony? I'm not aware of any E11 serial number lists on the internet any more but, if there is one, I'd like to know about it. If you took the date from Buffet's website, you're looking at the wrong list. The numbers there only apply to professional instruments made in Paris. The German-made E11s had their own numbering system.
I think 1995 is too late. I have had a German-made E11 with serial number 333xxx for many years. At the time I bought it, Boosey & Hawkes still owned Buffet and had a serial number look-up for E11s on their website. My memory could be faulty but, as I recall, I traced mine to around 1985 (no later than 1987). The highest German E11 serial number I see in a quick Google search is 976078. The latest this could have been made is 2009 since that's the year Buffet moved production of the E11 to France. So, during the 15 year period between around 1985 and 2009 (inclusive), it appears that around 650,000 E11s were manufactured. That works out to around 43,000 per year. That production seems awfully high to me (but Buffet does produce around 20,000 professional clarinets each year). Given that production was probably varied some over the years, and the uncertainty regarding the date mine was made and the date 976,078 was made, the best I can do is a ballpark guess. My guess is that your student's clarinet was probably made in the late 1980's or perhaps the very early 1990s.
Best regards,
jnk
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